February 1990 frAJON PNOJECT FON SOCIETY! Plans have been afoot for several- years to publish an atLas of t.he county's lepidoptera. In Newsletter 2 we announced that the Leicestershire Museum Service was to produce a review of the county's lepidoptera for the 1970s authored by Ray Barnett and the .l-ate Don Hall-Smith. 'l The start of the 990s significant importance to has prompted the Society to the conservation of sites consider the production of valuable for insects. a review of our lepidoptera which wiII not only update Your heTp neededJ the 1970s draft but also incLude historical, as wel-1 Leicestershire is relativelv as 1980s, data. poor)-y off for records of lepidoptera when compared Biographies & computers to other counties. In particular, hi-.:torical Also to be inc.l-uded are records are scarce. biographies of Leicestershire lepidopterists who have made We need your help to l-ocate significant contributions as many records as possible. to our understanding of the Do you know of naturalists distribution of butterfl-ies who may casually record and moths in the county. butterflies? If so, then As part. of the publication persuade them to let you we shal-l be producing an have copies of their sightings updated check-list of the lepidoptera of the county. Are you aware of ardent entomologists who prefer to Al-l- this has come about as do their own thing and do the records of lepidoptera, not report their records to as of the 1st January 1990, anybody? Contact them and will be computerised. rt get their records! Any oid is only right that we now coll-ections knocking about have a benchmark against that we should know of? Are which future insect record- you aware of reports in ing can be measured and I Society magazines, journals without a doubt, such a or even newspapers? Let us publication wil-l- be of know ! UNASUAL D]ILLIPEDE AT HINCKLET Reg Price, an amateur natural-ist who has revived an earlier interest in insects and other invert- brates, reports on some unusual- findings on the ol-d bridle way/green lane called Barwe]l- Lane in Hinck1ey. "On June 20th 1989 r found a striped millipede in a rotting e1m stump on Barwell Lane. Pam Copson of the Warwick Museum identified it as OmmatoiuLus sabuosus, IApparently this species is rel-atively uncommon as can V be seen from the mapl Other insects I have seen OmmatoiuLus sabuosus in Barwel-l- Lane during June and July of 1 989 (aeshna grandis) were on the incl-ude the l-esser stag wing. Two other rnsects beetl-e (Dorcus parallel- identified were the slender- ipipedes) of which many bodied digger wasp (Crabro were seen. Several examples cribarios) and the scorpion of Anax imperator (the fly (Panorpa communis)" emperor dragonfly) were seen during July and in Req Price August many brown aeshnas CODTDIItrEE T99O CONRECTION As no nominations were In Neil Frankum's articLe received at the Society's on hoverflies in gardens AGM t.he existing Committee (Occasional Publications was returned en bl-oc for Series Number 3, 19BB ) 1990. Chalcosyrphus nemorum should read Eumerus spp. Chairman: Ray Morris Secretary: Derek Lott COPTWANTED! Treasurer: Jane McPhail The Newsletter welcomes your news and views. Send your Programmes: contributions to Ray Morris at 142 Hinckley Road, Barwell fndoor: Roger Key LE9 8DN preferably as typed copy. Al-I i1l-ustrations Outdoor: John Mousley shoul-d be done in black ink for ease of reproduction. Editor: Ray Morris coPY DATEg rst July rggo DTONEOtr DIELANIC PEPPENED DTOTHS v fn his articl-e on the peppered moth, Biston betularia, in Newsletter 3, Ray Morris asked some questions about the genetics and evolution of industrial mefanism. The answers are avaj-l-able through the work of H.B.D. Kettlewell and others. The first black form of result, typical peppered B. betul-aria was caught in moths are conspicuous on Manchester in 1B4B. The black tree trunks and so freguency of mel-anics fall prey to birds. In rapidly increased in indust- contrast, melanic moths rial areas until, by the are at an enormous advantage turn of the century, in being camouflaged and so England and Wales 99t of survive to breed. populations in and downwind of industrial areas was Not environmentaL bl-ack. Mel-anism is not caused by v Genetic cause envj-ronmental conditions, being initially the result Mel-anism is caused by a of a fortuitous mutation, gene, known as carbonaria, but its spread is a conseq- which is dominant. Conseg- uence of environmental- uently, not only is a moth conditions . Carbonaria is that carries two carbonaria noL the only gene for mel- genes (the homozygote) black anism in B. betul-aria, but so is a heterozygoLe there also being a fess which carries one gene of common insuJ-aria gene which the typical type and one is also dominant. of carbonaria. Typical peppered moths carry no A further complication is carbonarr.a genes. A mating that larvae of at least a between two heterozygotes proportion of black peppered (which are black but which moths is resistant to produce equal proportj-ons chemical- pollution of the of eggs or sperm each carry- leaves that they eat and so ing eit.her a carbonaria survive better in industriaL or a typical gene) produces areas. black moths and typical moths in the ratio of 3:1 ; MeLanism declining one third of the black offspring wiIl be homozygotes Industrial melanism is the and two thirds wil-I be best instance known of heterozygotes. natural- sel-ection producing change in a population. It Mel-anism spread so rapidly now seems that the process because peppered moths rest. may be in reverse. Effective by day on tree trunks, the smoke cont.rol legislation typical form being well- is resulting in t.he re-est- camouflaged on a lichen- ablishment of Li.chens on covered tree. Lichens are tree trunks in towns and extremely sensitive to cit.ies, and the area of at.mospheric pollution and high meLanic frequency in disappeared in the 19th B. betul-aria has contracted century from blackened to the north east of tree trunks in and downwino England. of industrial areas. As a Jenny Owen 3 coLEoPrEnA 1989 v Beettles foand on Society field meetings Entomol-ogists are like farmers - always moaning about Lhe weather! It is either too hot, too col-d, too windy or too anything else that you can think ofl This is because insects, in general, are not tolerant of a wide range of temperatures and humidities. In 1989 it was, on the whole, too dry for many beetles, but occasionally rt was too wet! This was reflected in our experiences durrng frerd meetings last summer. Saddington reservoir list of regronal rarities. (sP 6690,7.v.89) Our own Soc:.ety chose to This site has enjoyed a spend its frrst ever fiel-d reputation for being one of meeting at Sacjr:rgton on the premier sites for beetles 7th May 1989. lhrs visit in Leicestershire since the happened to co:-nclde with v l-ast century. The earliest the aftermath cf cne of the record that I have seen is few periods of :crrential of Chl-aenius vestitus rain in a very jry year. published by Francis Plant Conseguently, the conditions in 1857. were more suitabie for some of the members to show off The Reverend A. Matthews their ownership of waders l-ived very nearby at Gumley than for coLlect:.ng beetles! from 1853 until- 1897. He Nevertheless 33 spec:.es were col,lected an amazing array recorded and alchough no new of beetles but was somewhat rarities were four:i several- '1 imprecise in the localities o1d ones were (Tabie ) . that he gave. It may well be that some of his records Only the two Benbto:on came from the reservoir but species have been found as far as I know he never el-sewhere in the county tn referred to it by name in modern times. any surviving l-iterature. Misterton marsh Even so, the activities of (sP555B5l, 7.v.89) the Entomological Section of the Literary and PhiLo- In contrast to Saddrngton sophical Society of the reservoir, the marsh vrsited 1890s and of twentieth at Misterton on the same century collectors, such as day was almost bone dry I D. Tozer and C.W. Henderson, This si.te has been damaged have ammassed an outstanding by drainage and coniferous Tabl-e 7 . Beetl-es at Saddington reservoir 7 . v. 89 Carabidae: Bembidion doris Benbidion fumigatun PLerost i chus anthrac inus Hydrophilidae: Helophorus nanus Staphytinidae: La throb i um impres.su/n Dochmonota cl-ancuTa 4 Coleoptera tgSg continued \y plantation. The remaining Charnwood Lodge nature open areas will eventually reserve in this county. turn into dry scrub and Nearby was a recently ex- become unsuitable for the cavated hole two metres wetl-and beetles. Even now long which received water only 14 species coul-d be drained from an adjacent found in the marsh. The field. This unpromising most interesting find was locality yielded 17 species the rove beetl-e DeubeLia of water beetles ! Perhaps picina. The only previous some of them, such as Leicestershire record of Hydroporus gyllenhali and this species was by Matthews H. pubescens were refugees Table 2. Beetl-es at Acresford sandpit 2.vii.89 Carabidae: NotiophiLus substriatus v OTisthopus rotundatus Amara l-unicolJ-is Harpalus rubripes Staphylinidae: Xanthol-inus jarrigei Tachyporus atriceps Acresford sandpit from the dried up Sphagnun (5K3013, 2.vii.89) pool. I had been looking forward HaLl-aton Castl-e to this visit ever si-nce ( 5P7896, 3 .